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Abstract
Drawing from in-depth interviews with 26 prominent South Africans, this article looks at how leaders in government, political parties, business and civil society understand and interpret non-racialism today. It interrogates whether non-racialism is an active political and social project among leaders in South Africa and whether, and how, they are attempting to redefine non-racialism. The article demonstrates that non-racialism is a term still ambiguously understood and defined by South African leaders. Some respondents consider races to be products of social construction and, as such, believe these constructions can be transcended. For many, however, the idea of multiracialism prevails over that of non-racialism. Although non-racialism remains largely a rhetorical ideal among many leaders, respondents did have well-defined views of the challenges facing non-racialism, particularly those of socio-economic inequality and poor leadership from the African National Congress (ANC). Overall, there is a strong sense from many respondents that the values of non-racialism are currently under threat. However, through using social sectors such as education and the media, as well as fostering open debate on non-racialism and facilitating stronger leadership from all areas of society, interviewees did see potential for building a path toward a non-racial South Africa.
Notes
Unless otherwise stated, all quotations in this text are taken from interviews conducted by the authors between July and September in 2011, as per the reference list on behalf of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation. The transcripts will be made publicly available on the Foundation's website imminently (www.kathradafoundation.org).
Former state president de Klerk focused on the idea of multiculturalism as a value to strive for in society. Multiculturalism, according to McDonald (Citation2006, p. 182), favours recognising all identities, while acknowledging that real recognition can involve treating different identities differently. For some multiculturalists (Song, Citation2010), mere toleration of group differences falls short of treating members of minority groups as equal citizens; recognition and positive accommodation of group differences is required through ‘group-differentiated rights’. Race has a more limited role in multicultural discourse. De Klerk makes the point that one must not confuse non-racialism with the absence of multiculturalism. For him, ‘multiculturalism is as important in South Africa as nation building is’. We should not face a choice between non-racialism and multiculturalism, but rather, de Klerk argues, the Constitution binds us to strike a balance between these two concepts.
Frederikse's (Citation1990, p. 13) reference to non-racialism as the ‘unbreakable thread’ between the ruling party and other alliance members suggests that non-racialism was a focal point for the ANC. However, the ANC only opened up membership to all races at the Morogoro conference in 1969, and even then ‘non-Africans’ were not permitted to sit on the ANC national executive (Callinicos, Citation1999, pp. 131–132).
Interviews for this project were conducted before charges were laid by the ANC against Youth League leaders for bringing the ANC into disrepute.
The ANC disciplinary committee suspended Julius Malema from the ANC for five years on 10 November 2011. At the time this article was submitted, it was unclear whether he would appeal this suspension.
For more detail on the ANCYL's views on non-racialism see Malema Citation(2009).
For a recent philosophical debate on the role of Whites in South Africa see Vice Citation(2011) and McKaiser Citation(2011).
This comment was not an attack on Whites, but rather was made in the context of addressing the effects of apartheid and appealing to government to address poverty in South Africa.
Several other sectors were raised by respondents and are discussed in detail in the Kathrada Foundation report by Anciano-White and Selemani Citation(2011). These sectors include business, religion, civil society, political parties and sports.
The media is a large sector, encompassing many forms, including new or electronic mediums, print, TV, etc. Although respondents did not always specify what type of media they were referring to in the comments, the majority alluded to traditional forms such as print media.